We all know the wait for the iPad, at least in the U.S., will be over on April 3, right? Wrong. True connoisseurs know they need to wait until June 1, when Mervis Diamond Importers will unleash the hideous and despicable Diamond iPad on the world. It’s a bejeweled and bedazzled monstrosity boasting 11.43 carats

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Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad , iPhone , iPod touch , iDevice Apps , Originals You’ve all pre-ordered your iPad , right? Better get on that before the available stock is gone. And since you’re only about three weeks away from delivery, you should also stock on free apps to transfer to it when it arrives. This week’s list is all about driving games, Twitter and limited time freebies.  Half of this list won’t be free for long, so I’d better cut to the chase. Brizzly – There’s a new best Twitter app on the App Store every week, it seems. This week’s new best is called Brizzly.  It has most of the snazzy features like trends and news, lists, multiple Twitter account support, pics and more.  If you don’t already have a Twitter client, this is as a great app to take for a spin. Mini Desktop Racing Arcade – Take a toy car for a spin on your desktop.  You control the car entirely with your finger, just don’t hit anything. Transformers G1: Awakening Free – You ready to roll out?  Play as the classic Autobots against the Decepticons in this turn based strategy game.  Obviously you can transform and this is to your advatage when you want to travel faster.  And it’s all in 3D; not the red and blue 3D, this is the kind that stays in the screen

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Apple’s much talked about iPad is now available for pre-order. The Wi-Fi version of the iPad will deliver on April 3 or be available for in-store pickup then (if you chose that option). The 3G version still has no official ship date, just an ominous “late April.” I pre-ordered the 16GB Wi-Fi version first thing this morning and let’s just say all the little extras add up fast. The $499 iPad quickly turned in to the $730 iPad between AppleCare and a few accessories. Such is the life of an early adopter, I suppose. So, will you be pre-ordering an iPad today? If so, which one? Related GigaOM Pro Research: • 5 Tips for Developers Targeting the iPad • Web Tablet Survey: Apple’s iPad Hits Right Notes • With The iPad, Apple Takes Google To the Mat

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Though a few early adopters have noted that the confirmation emails for pre-ordered iPads are slow, it looks like the in-store pick up option should be fun with some kind of launch fete in the works. Via AleVH of Tech info team

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The outcome of Apple and Nokia’s dueling patent infringement lawsuits could wait until mid-2012 for a verdict from the international trade court. The two companies swapped lawsuits in 2009, alleging the other with infringing key technologies. The three-year timespan for the U.S. International Trade Commission sets the stage for what Reuters has characterized as “the spectre

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Section: Apple News , Apple Online and Retail Store , iPhone / iPod touch / iPad , iPad The early worm gets the Apple, so you’d better set your alarm just a little earlier tonight to make sure you get first dibs on that iPad you’ve had your eye on. Remember, WiFi only models will be available on April 3rd, and the 3G models will make their debut later in April. Here’s the exact quote from an Apple rep sent to TUAW : “Customers can pre-order online at apple.com at 5:30am Pacific time on Friday, March 12.” So, are you going to preorder an iPad? If so, which one ? If you’re anything like me, then you’re probably having a hard time choosing between the six models you have to pick from. Let me break it down for you. The WiFi only model, while functioning nearly identically to the 3G version, will only access the internet using WiFi. And with how easy it is to find a WiFi hotspot these days, that’s not really that big of an issue if you aren’t hopelessly addicted to the net. Not only will this save you $130 upfront, you won’t have to wait the extra few weeks for the 3G version, and you won’t have to worry about paying AT&T $30 a month at any point in the future for iPad 3G Internet access. Sounds like a win-win win situation right

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  This clever game, won the Technical Achievement award in the Mobile Division at the Independent Game Festival competition, lets you get out some aggression by pushing someone down a flight of stairs. Even better, it can be a friend of yours! Facebook integration lets you stick a friend’s profile picture on the stick man before you give him a shove. Realistic physics, a good selection of staircases, and addictive gameplay bring out the inner sadist in us all. Stair Dismount is $1.99, sold by Secret Exit .

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Section: Mac Software , Audio / Video , Features , Hands On / First Looks , Originals Category: Video editing/effects Developer: Creaceed System Requirements: Intel-based Mac, Mac OS X v10.6, 64 MB VRAM Review Computer: 2.2GHz 13” Macbook Pro, 2GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM Network Feature: No Processor Compatibility: Intel Price: $39.95 while in Beta, $59.95 for final version Availability: Out now in Beta One of the hassles of dealing with “pro” level software is that quite often it won’t do something simple you need it to because, well, that’s not how professionals do things. Page layout programs—perfect example—won’t let you italicize any text the way Word does—you have to have the italic version of the font. Likewise, video editing and effects can be a pain if you’re looking for a simple fix, or tools that are common in photo editing. Elasty HD is a box full of odd and useful things that can be difficult, impossible, or expensive to find in another application. Elasty HD has four categories of effects. The first brings photo-type controls: crop, flip and (hallelujah) rotate video with a click. Also included is a basic image stabilization function, designed to steady video from a hand-held. Generally speaking, this works well, though you’ll want to combine it with the crop function to prevent the black edges of the frame from creeping into the video. The next function, Probes, is combined with the third function, Effects, so I’ll talk about them in reverse order. The Effects are simple layovers: beating hearts, distortion, halftones, streaks of light, and even a blur if you want to pretend you’re on COPS . Simple, cheesy, and fun. The Probes allow these static effects to move around the screen

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It’s no secret that many recording artists — especially those from the bygone era of the long-form LP record format — prefer listeners to enjoy their music as a whole, rather than on a song-by-song basis. One of the pioneers of such concepts, Pink Floyd, has just scored a legal victory that may change the way we buy such music from iTunes in the future. BBC News is reporting that Pink Floyd has score a legal victory with its record label, EMI, over the company selling its songs by track through Apple’s iTunes Store, according to MacRumors. The high-profile band objects to the label splitting up what it considers to be single pieces of work. “The rock legends, signed to EMI since 1967, said their contract meant their albums could not be split up without their permission,” BBC News reports . “A judge agreed, saying the contract contained a clause to ‘preserve the artistic integrity of the albums.’ EMI has been ordered to pay £40,000 ($60,000) in costs, with a further fine to be decided.” Of course, Pink Floyd’s contract with EMI predates digital music downloads, particularly those from the iTunes Store, which pioneered the “99 cents per track” option that’s become so popular in recent years. Rather than having to buy an entire album just to get one or two favorite tracks, customers can pick & choose which tracks they’d like to own. The band’s lawyers “argued that it made little sense that the contract’s restrictions against the splitting up of ‘seamless’ material would apply to physical distribution while digital distribution would be treated as a ‘free for all.’” EMI argued that the use of the word “record” in the contract suggested that it applied only to physical media. For now, Pink Floyd’s music remains for sale by track on the iTunes Store — so get it while the getting is good, we figure that will change soon enough, and probably start affecting other classic rock bands as well…

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Mac users who regularly exchange files with Windows users are constantly stymied by one of Mac OS X’s biggest limitations — you can read NTFS-formatted Windows disks, but you can’t write to them. Thanks to Paragon’s NTFS for Mac, you can, and the latest 8.0 version brings faster read & write operations as well as 64-bit support for Snow Leopard 10.6. Paragon Software Group has long been a leader in innovative data security and data management solutions, and Mac users have frequently turned to their NTFS for Mac OS X solution to eliminate the barriers between Windows and Mac. The company has just announced NTFS for Mac OS X 8.0 Release Candidate, a free 30-day trial of their latest drivers to read & write Windows-formatted NTFS disks. “We are very excited to offer this new solution to our fast growing NTFS for Mac OS X user base,” said Tom Fedro, president of Paragon Software Group. “Paragon NTFS for Mac 8 is the only solution on the market based on file-system drivers, which makes it unique with regards to stability and performance. Paragon was the first to officially break down the communication barriers between Mac and Windows, and we remain committed to bringing users the newest features with NTFS for Mac OS X 8.0.” Paragon NTFS for Mac 8 achieves the speed of native HFS+ drivers, with test results demonstrating around 90MB per second during read & write operations. The company bills the software as “the industry’s fastest NTFS driver,” with Mac users provided full read & write access to Microsoft NTFS partitions, allowing for easy modification of existing files back and forth between Mac and Windows without additional costly hardware or software. Among the new key features of NTFS for Mac OS X 8.0 are full support for the latest Snow Leopard 10.6 in 64-bit kernel mode, fast volume transfer speed, full read & write access, easy installation and removal, create & repair NTFS partitions under the Mac, use non-Roman characters and languages in your file & folder names, no system degradation during file transfers and no limitations on file or partition size beyond those in the Mac OS X or NTFS specifications. The Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X 8.0 Release Candidate is now available for download from the company’s website and gives full access to the feature set for a 30-day trial. Pricing and availability has not been announced for the shipping product, but Release Candidate users are promised a discounted price when it becomes available. Customers who purchase the current 7.0 version will also be entitled to a free upgrade to 8.0.

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